Sunday, August 03, 2003

MyBestBets for TV is a recommendation service. It provides users with content, product and event recommendations that are delivered online or via email.

Hmm... it's an online service thast will alert me to TV shows that I like. It's a lot like the TiVo suggestion technologiy, but it's online and will email me my suggestions for the day.

That's all exciting and good and all, but their corporate site also explains that is has Targeting/Prospecting Tools...

Automatically route promotions, events, and programming announcements to their ‘best fit’ audience segment. Target new content/products to customers who are highly likely to want them while NOT marketing to people who are almost certain to dislike them.

That's scary since I just gave them an email address.

Well, an email address that I can shove in a specific folder. :-)

We'll see if this service is worth keeping or if it generates a lot of junk mail. Their Privacy Statement seems ok though.

TiVo, too, uses filtering algorithms. But all those filters have serious limitations. Buy a baby book for a friend, and Amazon may assume you are a parent. The Wall Street Journal published a story last year on people who are not gay but whose TiVos think they are because of one or two shows they recorded.

Instead of collaborative filtering, ChoiceStream uses more complex approaches to statistical analysis called Bayesian- and discrete-choice modeling. When applied to movies, the technology factors in a variety of data, including professional and user reviews, along with keywords like foreign, Hollywood, romantic, etc., and actors' names.